Knowing the Unknown: An Explanation of Déjà Vu

January 10, 2008

Knowing the Unknown: An Explanation of Déjà Vu

I was sitting in class, like any other normal day in a teenager’s life, looking at a test that I had finished. I stared at it and I was suddenly and unexplainably overcome by this feeling that I had been in that exact room; taking that exact test before. The feeling lasted only brief seconds but left me puzzled for a couple minutes and left just as sudden as it came. Only one out of fifteen people have not experienced déjà vu. The act of remembering is a common thing–everyone does it– but not many people know how it happens. Everyone dreams and everybody forgets some of the dreams. This once considered paranormal brain behavior is now being researched with over forty varying theories, only one theory is plausible: the theory that déjà vu is a sudden remembrance of a precognitive, forgotten dream.

French scientist Emile Boirac’s word déjà vu literally translated means “already seen.”(the brain encyclopedia) It was first studied in the early 1800’s as a paranormal activity associated with frontal lobe epilepsy. People with frontal lobe epilepsy have said that they get strong déjà vu right before they have a seizure. Since the 1800’s there have been over forty different theories as to how and why déjà vu occurs. Some of which include reincarnation of a past life, information that is imprinted in your brain at birth, a delay of signal between your brain and your eyes, or something as a child you vividly saw. Alan S. Brown of Southern Methodist University has found that déjà vu is more frequent in those “who travel frequently, remember their dreams, and have liberal beliefs (political and religious).” (Brown, Alan) I know that when I traveled to Europe over the summer I saw lots of things in a short amount of time, and I can’t describe everyday perfectly but I have memories of the trip. This means that I could suddenly recall a memory of the trip and have a déjà vu experience. Younger people, who have better memories, also have a higher chance of experiencing déjà vu. Studies show both precognitive dreams and déjà vu is more evident in the 6-10 age groups. (Fukuda, Kazuhiko) Some argue that the kids of the studies may use their imaginations and there for void the study. Morton Leeds conducted a study in which he found that déjà vu occurs when you are stressed, overly tired, at the end of the week, later in the evening, or when daydreaming; all of those times are conditions when your short and long term memory are slowed down. (Joshua, Foer) Precognitive dreams are the origin of déjà vu.

Sometimes you can have a dream about the future; these dreams are called precognitive dreams. J. W. Dunne, an Oxford University professor, found that 12.7 percent of his subjects had dreams that had similarities with a future occurrence. Everyone dreams and because your brain moves your dream into a short term “area” you can’t remember them. Repression, the argued cause for the inability to recall dreams, is the unconscious exclusion of any memory that brings anxiety to one’s self. Normal dreams have connections to what is happening in their life; the dreams may cause anxiety so therefore are “forgotten.” But your brain still leaves a record of the dream in it; it’s just not in your temporal lobe.Thompson found that déjà vu occurs mainly in the hippocampus and amygdala brain areas.(Thompson, R.G) The hippocampus is what transfers memories from short term into long term, this process is done while you sleep. The amygdala is the part of your brain that develops strong emotions. It’s loosely tied to memories if the emotion is strong enough from the amygdala then the amygdala connects to the hippocampus and the memory in turn becomes long term (Thinkquest.org, see figure 1). If you have a record of a precognitive dream then you are most likely going to have déjà vu at least once and the remembrance can be induced by any of your senses.

When you see an arrangement or scene that is similar to a dream that you can’t remember vividly, it could trigger feelings of familiarity and confusion. The confusion is due to the sense that you shouldn’t remember being or seeing it because you haven’t been there in real life. This response is the sudden retrieval of the “forgotten” dream, and tricks you into thinking you lived it. Some people’s mind starts rushing and tries to figure out where they saw it before; others slow down and ponder. The feelings are different for everyone meaning that there is not set effect of déjà vu. The whole situation is known as Déjà vu, a term researched and originated by Emile Boirac.

There have been many scientists from all over the world who have studied déjà vu. Emile Boirac was a French psychological researcher of the 1850’s. He is remembered for naming déjà vu and defining ESP. He revealed and named déjà vu to the world in a book entitled L’Avenir des Sciences Psychiques. (howstuffworks.com) He believed in spiritualism, and was president of the University of Genoble and Dijon University. Arthur Funkhouser is a Swiss scholar, who came up with the theory of precognitive dreams being the cause of most déjà vu. Funkhouser also divided déjà vu up into the three variations in 1983. (Funkhouser, Arthur.) Vernon Neppe wrote a book entitled The Psychology of Déjà vu, it defined all words associated with déjà vu and went through and described in detail all the different theories of déjà vu (Neppe, Vernon).

Déjà vu is split up into three different variations, déjà vécu, déjà visté, and déjà senti. Which deals with having already seen, thought, or visited the scene where déjà vu occurred. Déjà vécu is the most common of the three types, which occurs through sight. Déjà visté is supported by the precognitive dream theory. Déjà vu doesn’t have to occur through seeing an image or arrangement; it can happen when you smell, feel, or taste something familiarly unknown. The source can be as small as a pin or as big as a street scene, and brings back a memory and all the feelings associated with the forgotten memory. Connotations of déjà vu are that it’s an unexplainable feeling that overcomes you when you see something familiar. In a survey, in which I polled about 15 people, I, shockingly, found that most people considered their déjà vu experience as a happy one and weren’t puzzled by the situation. Some people, who have experienced it more then the people I surveyed, say that they loose interest in watching in television or listening to the radio because they feel like they have seen it all before. Those people are normally the epileptics. (Joshua, Foer)

Some argue that the theory of precognitive dreams can not possibly be right. Because déjà vu is supposed to be a sudden unexplainable feeling, you shouldn’t be able to relate it to something happened in the past. In other words it’s called a precognitive occurrence and not déjà vu. Another argue as to why the precognitive dream theory isn’t a plausible theory of déjà vu is that you shouldn’t have any exterior confirmation as to where you saw the scene that gave you déjà vu before. According to these beliefs déjà vu is rarer then people think because it would deny most people’s interpretation of having déjà vu. (Johnson, C.) These doubts also make studying subjects difficult because it’s denouncing them as not having experienced it.

It is arguable that déjà vu occurs when you have a sudden remembrance of a dream you had in the past. Each theory comes from a different type of researchers: scientists, psychologists, paranormal psychologists, chemists, neurologists, and spiritualists. All the different explanations and personal beliefs behind the explanations makes the cause of déjà vu controversial. The randomness of the occurrence makes it hard to study; as they have not found a way to induce a déjà vu “attack.” Right now they stick with simple surveys: what happened, what did you see, describe the feelings you had, or describe the day you were having. Others attempted to induce déjà vu in a manner that the subject didn’t know it was happening. (Howstuffworks.com) Alan Brown is the most famous person investigating déjà vu today. Alan Brown and Elizabeth Marsh took a group of students and showed them photographs, on a screen, of a college they haven’t been to. Seconds before they showed the photographs they shot them in subliminal speeds and waited to see if they said they saw the places before, and if déjà vu came along with it. (Carey, Benedict) The results, the students didn’t experience déjà vu but they said that they saw those places in real life; thus helping the déjà vu studies none. Alan Brown might be the most famous déjà vu investigator, but déjà vu is also found in the entertainment world. There are many famous pop culture examples of people who try to make famous their feelings of déjà vu, some before their time. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a famous book of short stories; one depicted déjà vu entitled Our Old Home. In which he describes being overcome by an uncanny feeling when in a house. (Glenn, David) Déjà vu, at that time, had not been studied or even thought about. Sir Walter Scott began the theory of reincarnation as a reason for having déjà vu in his book Guy Mannering. (Funkhouser, Arthur) Many magazine articles also describe déjà vu: New York Times, Discover, Science, and Psychology. Songs have also taken a place in describing déjà vu. Lorentz Hart wrote Where and When, Crosby Stills and Nash’s, and Beyonce’s Déjà vu. The movie Déjà vu directly describes reincarnation and time travel.

The French originate, déjà vu phenomenon is a questionable one, and a popular one at that. Some don’t believe it happens and others swear they feel it everyday. Those who believe in déjà vu often find the dream theory the most realistic because everyone dreams and most of the time you can’t remember the dream you had last night, it doesn’t matter how vivid it was. Scientists today think that finding out exactly how déjà vu works will help explain the memory making process. (Joshua, Foer) The brain is a complex organ that we have not figured out completely yet, and no one knows for sure what theory is the correct one; one day they will find out exactly how déjà vu occurs and it could open up doors to other exploration of the brain.

 I kind of beat around the bush with this essay and my organizament well…sucked. To be honest I should have seeked help with basically all my essays but well thats not me I don’t want help. So my papers will continue, well….sucking.  

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